LAURINBURG — Socks have been the topic for quite some time now in The Laurinburg Exchange office — and it has been a roller coaster ride.
Earlier this month, the staff at The Exchange reached out to the community and asked for help in collecting socks to donate to Church Community Services for those in need. The response of the community resulted in more than 1,300 donated pairs of socks in less than three weeks.
On Feb. 16, representatives of Church Community Services came to collect the socks and expressed excitement and gratefulness.
“Ya’ll are gonna make me cry,” said Arnita Russell said that day. “Just this morning, I saw a gentleman come in the food pantry wearing only flip flops on his feet. He said it was all he had, so I ran to my desk and found a pair of socks, our last pair to give him, and then ya’ll called — this is great, just absolutely wonderful.”
But that same evening, a police report stated that someone broke into Church Community Services and stole 100 pairs of socks.
According to Laurinburg Police Lt. Jeremy While, Church Community Services reported to the department the next day around 9 a.m. that an unknown person had broken into the building on South Gill Street.
After reading the news about the stolen socks, Scotland Country resident Aaron Hodge challenged his community to raise more socks to replace the stolen ones — and he backed up that challenge.
“I would like to challenge others in our community to replace the socks that were stolen from Church Community Services,” he said. “(And) I would like to start the challenge with a donation of $100 towards replacing the stolen socks.”
The Laurinburg Exchange served as the collection site for either monetary donations or packages of new socks for the next four days.
As of Thursday morning, the community contributed enough money to purchase more than 300 pairs of socks — as well as contributed more than $100 for Church Community Services to use for socks or other needed supplies.
“Since the original article, we have received over 5,000 pairs of socks from Carolina Container in Laurinburg and 85 blankets from Belk in Laurinburg,” said Russell. “This has been such a blessing, to have help like this, it’s just wonderful.”
That feeling is shared.
“Incredible,” said W. Curt Vincent, editor of the newspaper. “That’s the best word I can think of to describe what has taken place. People here are truly giving — and what Mr. Hodge started goes beyond words. We can’t thank him and everyone who contributed enough.”
Church Community Services is always in need of various items. To make donations or inquire on what is needed, contact Church Community Services at 910-276-8330.
JJ Melton can be reached at [email protected]
